Michael got the Stevia at the local health food store. And I dug around for a reliable flourless chocolate cake recipe from my favorite chef, Nick Malgieri. I set out to alter it just enough to remove all the sugar. Instead of bittersweet baking chocolate, I used unsweetened. Instead of the 3/4 cup of sugar, I used 1 tsp of Stevia powder. As you can see here, the stuff looks like an illegal drug and costs about as much--$5 for a tiny pouch no bigger than a packet of saffron or other rare spice.
As I was mixing the melted chocolate into the yolks, butter, and stevia, my chocolate started to seize up. I can only assume that the cooling process had advanced too far, so I had to stir it over a bowl of hot water for a while. I gave it a little taste and I was shocked at how one teaspoon had sweetened and simultaneously turned the whole thing unbelievably bitter. I pressed on, however. I wouldn't easily throw out 7 eggs and 8 ounces of chocolate. I continued to test the flavor as I mixed and I couldn't believe how BITTER it tasted. In a desperate attempt to salvage the batter, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. I folded in the whipped egg whites, slipped it into the oven, and hoped for the best.
A fairly attractive scent of chocolate perfumed the air, but it still seemed something was off and I braced myself for the worst. When it came out, it looked pretty decent. A glossy crackling on top of the slightly raised cake seemed to signal some success. And after the cooling off period, I moved in for a taste. Michael moved in for a taste, too. We each had a slice, but had to toss most of it out before finishing. It was foul. There was a strong bitter and chemical taste that just didn't work with the chocolate.
The texture was odd as well. Flourless cakes are usually light and verging on a pudding smoothness in the center. I don't know how Stevia could possibly have affected the texture, but maybe it was more the absence of sugar than anything else. Sugar clearly does play an integral part in what goes on to create the right texture. This obviously was not it. The little packet of white powder as well as the cake are now resting comfortably at the bottom of our trash bin.
What lesson can I take away from this ill-fated experiment? It took a few hours of dejected moping before I could really think in an objective manner. I guess, ultimately, it means that I can't have my sugar-free cake and eat it too. If it were any flavor other than chocolate, it might have worked. I had to have my chocolate, though. I NEED chocolate! But apparently, you can't have decent chocolate without good old-fashioned sugar. So it's back to the old drawing board. I may make it through two weeks without my favorite substance in the world. I doubt it, though.
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